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Woodward Racing Eagle Nationals summary

Tatnell Finishes Third in Eagle Nationals EAGLE, NE (June 9) -- Brooke Tatnell equaled his season-best finish in a World of Outlaws "A" Feature Saturday at Eagle Raceway when he drove the ...

Tatnell Finishes Third in Eagle Nationals

EAGLE, NE (June 9) -- Brooke Tatnell equaled his season-best finish in a World of Outlaws "A" Feature Saturday at Eagle Raceway when he drove the #2 Volcano Joe's Coffee Schnee into third place at the Eagle Nationals.

For Tatnell, who also finished third in the Cactus Classic at Manzanita Speedway, it was a bittersweet top-five finish, however, because he started on the pole.

"It was a good bad night, I guess," Tatnell said. "That's the best way to put it. We're happy to run decent because it's been a tough struggle for us lately. It was a good run, but it was disappointing to run third because of where we started and we thought we had a car that was capable of winning. But, with all the tough luck we've had, I was glad to get a good run on the board. That's something we can build on. We gave a 120% effort but we know now in order to win you have to give 150%. I guess I wasn't quite comfortable enough or confident enough."

The five-time World Series Sprintcar champion was the 10th-fastest qualifier and won the First Heat Race. His victory in the Crane Cams Dash gave him the privilege of starting the 40-lap main event on the pole.

Tatnell won a back-straightaway drag race with 20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser to take the early lead in the "A" Feature. Tatnell rode the rim around the high-banked, 1/3-mile oval ahead of the 24-car field throughout the first seven laps.

Fast-qualifier Joey Saldana passed Jac Haudenschild during a third-lap restart, then started chasing Tatnell in the high groove. Saldana passed Tatnell deep in the fourth corner late in the eighth lap and led the final 32 laps. "The Wild Child" and Danny Lasoski passed Tatnell just before the midpoint of the race, only to have Tatnell regain third place with 14 laps remaining.

"The car was good and we were running well on the top," Tatnell said. "The track started taking rubber though. When that happens, it's better to be running second. You can find the rubber before everyone else because you can take more chances and move around on the track. You could smell it (the rubber) in the air. I moved around and tried to find it, and I lost a couple of spots. That's the disappointing aspect of it. We fell back to fourth, but then we got going again. It was a decent run; it's something we can build on for confidence."

Tatnell and the rest of the Woodward Racing team hope they can continue building their confidence when the World of Outlaws returns to Tri-City Speedway Thursday. Tatnell finished seventh in the World of Outlaws "A" Feature at Tri-City on October 9, 2004, when the track was a half-mile oval. Tri-City officials trimmed an eighth of a mile from the racetrack recently.

"We haven't been to Tri-City since they modified the racetrack, so it will be a different ballgame," Tatnell said. "We just want to build on what we did at Eagle."

-credit: wr

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